JPS6155675B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a front panel of an electronic device, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a front panel of an electronic device in which the process of attaching information such as characters or symbols to the front panel is improved.

For example, in electronic devices such as measuring machines, computers, and electronic desktop calculators, various operation switches or keys are exposed to the outside. Such operation buttons or operation keys are usually inserted through or fixedly provided on a beautiful surface panel. The present invention can be used to manufacture surface panels for such various electronic devices.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a front panel of an electronic device. Referring to FIG. 1, a plurality of openings 2 are formed in a front panel 1 of an electronic device. Various operation buttons or operation keys are usually inserted through the opening 2 . Information 1a consisting of characters or symbols such as ON, OFF, etc. is formed around the opening 2. This is formed to display the contents of various operation buttons or operation keys. That is, in order to hide non-operating parts such as various operation buttons or operation keys, and to form such information 1a, the front panel 1 is placed over various operation buttons or operation keys, etc. attached to the equipment. In this way, the front panel 1 is attached to make the external appearance of the electronic device neat and beautiful. Therefore, the front panel 1 is required to have a design effect. By the way, an aluminum plate has conventionally been used for the front panel 1. Aluminum is relatively soft, so
It is easy to surface treat and process, and has a silvery luster, so it has a beautiful finish and has a decorative effect. Therefore, it is widely used as a surface panel for various electronic devices.

However, the use of aluminum as a surface panel material has the following drawbacks.

First, aluminum is quite expensive. In particular, for relatively low-priced products such as electronic desktop calculators, a considerable portion of the manufacturing cost is accounted for by the surface panel, which has no real function, making this a more serious problem. .

Secondly, the fact that it is relatively soft and easy to surface treat and process is directly linked to its low strength. As described above, since the strength is low, it is necessary to increase the thickness to increase the strength, and as a result, more aluminum is required, which further increases the manufacturing cost.

To overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, it is necessary to manufacture the front panel 1 from a material other than aluminum. However, materials that exhibit similar or better aesthetic effects than aluminum are more expensive, such as silver. On the other hand, if tinplate or the like is used, it is possible to manufacture the surface panel 1 at a lower cost, but as shown in a partial cross-sectional view in FIG. The iron layer 5 will be exposed. When the iron layer 5 is exposed, it is easily corroded by moisture in the air, and peeling or weathering progresses sequentially over the entire surface panel 1 centering on the opening 2, making it impossible to withstand use for a very long period of time.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a method that can eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and produce a surface panel that exhibits the same design effect as aluminum at a lower cost.

This invention uses a steel plate as a material for the surface panel, and uses a plate for printing information such as characters or symbols and a background on the steel plate in which an opening is formed, so that the surface of the steel plate is printed so that the background covers the opening. and a method for manufacturing a front panel of an electronic device, comprising a printing step of applying printing ink to an opening end surface, and a cutting step of cutting the printed steel plate into predetermined units to obtain a front panel.

The above objects and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram used in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a tin plate with openings formed therein.
Referring to FIG. 3, first, a tin plate 10, for example, is prepared as a steel plate, and a plurality of openings 12 are formed, for example, by punching. The opening 12 is formed in an appropriate shape, size, and arrangement to fit an operation switch or operation key of an electronic device to which the front panel is attached. Further, the tin plate 10 is prepared as a plate-like member of an appropriate size in order to obtain a large number of front panels at once.

Following the aperture forming step, a printing step is performed in which information such as characters or symbols and a background are printed on the tin plate 10, thereby causing printing ink to adhere to the end faces of the apertures. FIG. 4 is a schematic side view for explaining the printing process. Referring to FIG. 4, the tin plate 10 in which the opening 12 is formed is
It is sent in the direction of arrow X. While being fed in the direction of arrow X, a printing process consisting of a base forming process, a silver coating process, and a process of printing information and background is performed.

First, rollers 13 and 14 around which an abrasive material such as sandpaper is fixed are placed on a tin plate 1.
0 is touched. By passing between the rollers 13 and 14, the surface of the tin plate 10 is roughened, and a base for printing, which will be described later, is formed.

Next, a tin plate 10 is placed between rollers 16 and 17 to which aluminum powder is supplied from an aluminum powder feeder 15.
will be sent. The surface 10a of the tin plate 10 is coated with aluminum powder by the roller 16 which is being rotated while being supplied with the aluminum powder. This so-called silver coating forms an aluminum layer on the surface 10a of the tin plate 10, giving it the luster of aluminum.

Next, silver coated tin plate 1
0 is sent in the direction of arrow X between a rotating roller 19 and a roll 20 while being supplied with printing ink from a printing ink supply device 18. This roller 19 is provided with a plate for printing information such as necessary characters or symbols and a background on the front panel. That is, by the roller 19, the tin plate 10
Characters or symbols and a background are printed on the surface 10a. As the printing ink, various inks that are compatible with the tinplate plate 10, such as tinplate ink, can be used. Further, printing is performed over the entire surface 10a of the tin plate 1. That is, the background is printed in a transparent or extremely light color even in areas other than those where characters or symbols are required. Therefore, printing is performed such that the background portion of the plate covers the opening 12. Further, since the roller 19 performs printing while being in pressure contact with the surface 10a of the tin plate 10, the printing ink to be applied is spread and applied on the surface 10a of the tin plate 10. Therefore, the printing ink enters the inside of the opening 12 formed in the tin plate 10 from all directions. FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing the state of the opening of the tin plate 10 after the printing process has been completed. With reference to FIG. 5, it will be understood that the printing ink extends evenly to the end surface 12a of the opening 12 and reaches the back surface 10b of the tin plate 10. The layer 22 formed by printing ink is
As shown in FIG. 5, the back side 1 of the tin plate 10
The viscosity of the printing ink is chosen so that it reaches 0b. In this way, since the layer 22 formed with the printing ink evenly covers the entire end surface of the opening 12, the end surfaces of the tin layer 24 and the iron layer 25 exposed in the opening forming process of the tin plate 10 are covered with the printing ink. The layer 23 made of aluminum powder and formed by the silver coating process described above will also be covered with the printing ink. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to advantageously prevent corrosion at the open end surface, which has been impossible with conventional tin plates.

Next, the tin plate 10 with desired characters or symbols and a background printed on its surface is moved along the dashed line Y in FIG.
and is cut at the Z part. Through this cutting process, a desired unit of surface panel 27 is obtained. Preferably, a coating, for example, varnish or transparent lacquer, may be formed to cover the end faces newly exposed at the dashed lines Y and Z during the cutting process.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the tin plate 1 is made of a material that is much cheaper than aluminum.
By using 0, the surface panel 2 of the electronic device
7 can be manufactured. Furthermore, since a silver coating process is performed before printing, it can have the same gloss as aluminum, and therefore can exhibit the same design effect as aluminum. Furthermore, since the tin plate 10 is used, which is much stronger than aluminum, it is possible to make the plate about 1/2 to 2/3 thicker than aluminum, which makes it possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the front panel. It is possible to reduce it to Furthermore, since it is possible to reduce the plate thickness, it also contributes to making the device smaller and thinner.

It should be noted that although tinplate ink for printing on tinplate plates was used in the embodiments described above, it is noted that various other printing inks may be used. Further, as the printing means, various printing means such as offset printing, stencil printing, intaglio printing, etc. can be used. Furthermore, in the embodiments described above,
Although a tin plate was used as the steel plate, various other inexpensive steel plates may be used. Furthermore, when using the tin plate 10, the presence of the tin layer 24 provides gloss, so the silver coating step using aluminum powder may be omitted.
However, in order to obtain a gloss equivalent to that of aluminum, it is preferable to carry out the silver coating process as described above.

As described above, according to the present invention, after forming a plurality of openings in a steel plate, a plate for printing information such as characters or symbols and a background is used to print the background so that the background covers the openings. for printing information and background, thereby depositing printing ink on the end face of the aperture, without the need for any other components;
It becomes possible to manufacture the front panels of electronic devices using steel sheets, which are a much cheaper material than aluminum. Therefore, it is possible to effectively reduce the manufacturing cost of the front panel of the electronic device, and by extension, the electronic device itself. Furthermore, since a steel plate has greater strength than an aluminum plate, it is possible to form a front panel using a thinner steel plate, which can greatly contribute to the miniaturization and thinning of electronic devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a front panel of an electronic device. FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing the state of the opening when a tin plate is used as the material for the front panel. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a steel plate in which an opening is formed, which is used in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic side view for explaining the printing process. FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing the state of the opening of the tin plate after the printing process has been completed. In the figure, 1 is the front panel, 2 is the opening, and 10
12 shows a tin plate as a steel plate, 12 is an opening, 12a is an opening end surface, and 22 is a layer formed with printing ink.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a surface panel of an electronic device, which has a plurality of openings for inserting or attaching electronic components, and has information such as at least characters or symbols displayed on the surface. an aperture forming step of forming a plurality of apertures in a steel plate; and a plate for printing information such as characters or symbols and a background so that the background covers the apertures and the surface of the steel plate. a printing process of attaching printing ink to the opening end face; cutting the printed steel plate into predetermined units;
A method for manufacturing a surface panel of an electronic device, comprising a cutting step whereby a surface panel is obtained.